Robert Johnson, the founder of BET and Clinton-backer who compared Barack Obama to Sidney Poitier and sarcastically referred to what Obama was "doing in the neighborhood — it’s in his book" even though he meant Obama’s community organizing (yeah. right.) appears not to have gotten the TRUCE memo supposedly distributed Monday to Clinton surrogates and staff.
"We’ve always said we need a perfect, well-spoken, Harvard-educated black candidate who would prove we’ve transcended race," the billionaire African American businessman and supporter of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) said in an interview yesterday. "Well, now we’ve got him and nobody knows how to campaign against him."
While this may be a bad thing for Hillary Clinton and her billionaire backers, I’m not sure how it’s bad for Democrats. But Billionaire Bob explains:
"The Obama campaign — win, lose or draw — is going to have to address race," Johnson said. "If we don’t have this debate about race within the Democratic Party . . . we could find ourselves with a division in this party as we go up against whoever the Republicans put up."
So — you and your billionaire buds are gonna vote GOP if the Democrats don’t nominate Hillary? Is that what you mean, Bob?
Oh, wait, there’s something farther along that makes Billionaire Bob’s shrill surrogacy clear:
Johnson and his wife, Sheila, became billionaires when they sold BET to Viacom in 2000 for $3 billion. The couple later divorced. Sheila Crump Johnson, now president of the Washington Mystics WNBA team, is backing Obama.
Got it.
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hi teddy!
hi greenwarrior!
Like Eric Michael Dyson (Obama supporter) and his
wife Julia an avid Clinton supporter. I think it would be very unpleasant
like everyday life at the Carville Matalins
Hey Teddy, nice post! This campaign season is rife with surrogatism…(is that a word?)
I guess politics really IS personal. At least for billionaires.
Hi, TSF!
Keep it up, Billionaire Bob! Enough bile between the Obama and Clinton camps, and Edwards will take Nevada.
But seriously: I don’t blame the Clintons for Johnson’s refusal to get the memo, since they aren’t this stupid. He’s not helping them.
Nice dig Teddy.
You ROCK!
Notice though that it’s ex-wife supporting Obama.
Aloha, Teddy! This reminds me of the tiff between Kohn and Steinem… ;-)
hard to keep up with all of Teh Crazy.
It seems that today was Huckabee’s turn to bring the full-goose gonzo, bat-shit, over-the-top, here’s the real me, and I’m nuttier than the fundiest of all y’all fundies platform forward.
(shudder)
so they’ll fight out their animosity via the presidential race?
ot – i’m really curious – have any/all of the 3 leading candidates told nbc and the world that they won’t come to the debate if kucinich isn’t coming? that would be the high road imho.
I did not know that about the Dyson family, Katherine. I wonder if this new Carville/Matalin model is a way for power couples to have a foot in any camp. I think it makes people less trustworthy, myself.
Although it’s doubtful there’s any pillow talk anymore between the Johnsons.
Uh, doesn’t that make him a strong candidate?
This is a nice way of calling Obama a Tom. Stay classy, Bob!
Hi LL!
Hello puravida!
Hello JoeBuck and Bustednuckles.
Hey Busted, did Outta feel the FDL commenter love today?
Johnson and his wife, Sheila, became billionaires when they sold BET to Viacom in 2000 for $3 billion. The couple later divorced.
So she’s single…?
Teddy- Just to be Devils Advocate here for a moment- I read the entire WaPo piece. Are you calling him an idiot because his words are not helpful to Hillary? Otherwise, standing on their own, his comments don’t seem all that idiotic to me. I’ve read similar sentiments about Obama at BlackAgenda, etc.
Down, boy…
Here’s the “in the neighborhood” YouTube. When you watch Bob Johnson allude to what Barack was doing “in the neighborhood — it’s in his book” do YOU think it was about community organizing?
But Bill Clinton says we need to take Bob Johnson at his word.
If they want to have turf wars, why don’t they do it on their own time instead of making an absolutely awful campaign season that much worse? Has everyone gone crazy – or is it just me?
I think he’s an idiot for perpetuating this discussion after both campaigns clearly called a truce.
Clinton gave up on that spin, I believe, when a radio audience listening to it laughed it off.
Hey for $1.5 billion, I could see myself finding Mike Gravel attractive…
More WaPoo excrement courtesy of who else? Dick Cohen:
http://tpmelectioncentral.com/…..rakhan.php
I’m sure ‘lil Debbie Howell will get to bottom of it, so to speak.
Let me see if I can sort of somehow ease my way in here. It’ll perhaps take a few minutes. I need to de-excite myself from the possibilities of an Obama or Hillary presidency.
Sheila has remarried, to the Chief Judge of the Arlington (Virginia) Circuit Court.
Heh, for $1.5 Million, I’d consider him attractive, I’m cheap… ;-)
CT! We’re talking Billion with a B.
HRC or Obama? We are unable to decide which is the brightest. And which is the best? Are they perhaps the same?
I said I was cheap… 8-P
and yet another beautiful relationship is thwarted before it really began… *s*
Have I mentioned that I’m *very* patient?
Teddy- ok, I now get it.
And, I went a googling, and found this HuffPo piece, which is really more informative than WaPo piece. More telling, too.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..81286.html
Hillary has a special liking for billionaires. The first lady of Walmart and LaFarge knows where the bucks are buried.
OT
Minneapolis bridge collapse up now on PBS NewsHour
As I have mentioned. We like Hillary and Obama equally. We are very politically correct in this house. We view Obama as weak tea. We think of HRC as decaffinated coffee. What’s the purpose of either?
I wouldn’t mind if Lahoma was a billionaire.
Teddy, did you read this exchange…
http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/73545/
We’ve got two very good candidates. One is named John Edwards. Hill, Bill and Obama make me want to stick my finger down my throat.
I’m going to fix supper. The excitement is just a bit over the top. ;0)
Some day the scales are going to fall the eyes of the American people, and when they do, when they learn that their country belongs to the super-rich, and that they only live in it, but don’t really belong to it, they are going to be angry. I’m angry already, but that’s just me.
Given the way the economy is headed — 6 percent inflation reported today– and rising unemployment, that day may not be far off.
One more thought. When you think HRC, think DLC. When you think Obama, don’t.
OT but interesting – Talking Points Memo is BANNED at the DOJ!
Banned, oh, the Shame!!
So in California, they want to remote control the thermostats in “your” home:
http://www.iht.com/articles/20…../calif.php
If I vote for Edwards does that make me Racist and Sexist…? *g*
Does anyone think that HRC and Obama are trying to get all the possible Puke attack points out ahead of the post nomination period??
If I read that correctly, they are not “banned” in the traditional sense of the word. Rather, they are just no longer on the email distribution lists as they had been previously. A PITA I’m sure but not like they’re being blocked as a web site and DoJ folks are not allowed to visit.
Robert Johnson and BET, were originally brought to you by The Carlyle Group. Now if I were a super rich Republican and heavily invested in MIC and oil I would be looking at the Republican field of candidates, shaking my head, and realizing I had best back the best Neo Con on the Democratic ticket (just in case). Perhaps Bob and his old Carlyle buddies have a few ulterior motives.
Great work, Teddy.
Hi, kiddo. I’m the only human being in my house this evening; the other human occupant has a work-related dinner engagement. What’s happening in your house?
In relation to your comment, do you mean to imply a personal preference between the two? As of right now, my own preference between those two has trended slightly in the opposite direction to what could potentially be inferred from your comment. (My absolute preference is for the Invisible Man.)
ES! Thank you for that info! It really does help explain what’s going on/ coming down.
Nope but they won’t be receiving press releases which could slow down their digging through DOJ muck. It is a stupid, penny-ante type of thing that is typical of the Bushies.
A commenter there suggests t-shirts, while another suggests setting it to the Springsteen tune: Banned At The DoJ !
Does anyone think that HRC and Obama are trying to get all the possible Puke attack points out ahead of the post nomination period??
You mean intentionally?
uh…no.
ES has closed the triangle, I think. Carlyle Group, indeed.
We like Mr. Edwards in this house. And now the lady person of the house has inquired if I have thought about being hungry. I of course requested her thoughts on KP.
“Well, now we’ve got him and nobody knows how to campaign against him.”
And the unspoken here is that we ALL KNOW how to campaign against a woman.
Which is true. Sadly.
Not that I am giving up on my man, JRE.
It is simple . Each wants to win, no holds barred.
Good work indeed dear Teddy!
If any pup has a link to current Nevada polling I’d sure appreciate a linky.
I dislike the Carlyle Group.
Skull and Bones Incorporated.
LOL
Mich primary up on NewsHour
Thank you! Here you go: polling in Nevada
If Mittie wins, we’re buying a brand new Rambler.
OK I try to be liberal and stuff. But marriage vows should mean something even for a President. Abdullah is holding hands and swapping spit with our Kommander Guy. And just on CNN, they were locked arm in arm and dancing. Am I wrong to think Laura deserves better?
It is simple . Each wants to win, no holds barred.
Gawd, doesn’t anyone know how to play this game? Seven years of unmitigated disaster, courtesy of the Republicans – HRC, Edwards, and Obama could debate each other for months as to which of the administration’s policies have done the most damage to the country – without ever even repeating themselves.
But NOOOO….
Marcy voted ‘uncommitted’ in the clusterfuck of MI…
OT: What digby said.
Bob in HI
Tucker has Roger Stone on the air talking about Kos’s “dirty trick” of telling “liberals” to vote for Romney?
Roger Stone?
Roger Stone?
Not a trace of irony.
Blitzer is announcing that DK will be included in the Nevada debate…
The human beings in this house like Edwards, too. (That is who I referred to as the “Invisible Man”, in light of his treatment by the mainstream press.) Unfortunately, I cannot speak for the non-human occupant of our house.
Now Jane, you know that IOKIYAR.
I’ve got my eye on that snazzy Gremlin in the dealer’s window….
I like what I see in that poll. If kiddo takes a look, those in his house will be pleased.
My lady tells me she feels like tv, pizza, politics and a game of Monopoly. That’s good. Monopoly, Scrabble and checkers I can beat her at. She tells me everytime I wipe the floor with her in Monopoly, that she suspects I’m a closet Republican. Of course we both know I’m an uncloseted radical. Got to go and get the pizza. Romney, McCain or Huckabee. Who do you like?
Oh Jane! How well I remember Howie’s take down of Roger Stone. And, he got help in the updates from moi and another FDLer (newt).
You just have to look at the pic, tho. Prime example of a picture being worth a thousand words.
http://downwithtyranny.blogspo…..ative.html
It’s unfortunate that they say that Edwards “has come within shooting distance.” Surely there must have been a better way to say that.
Is this a trick question? If you like to play games with your lady, I recommed Yahtzee. It is very fun, doesn’t take too many brain cells, and involves excited shouting once in a while.
I just put up a post over there, I have not seen , nor heard anything …yet.
it will come, I’m sure.
You guy’s freakin rock,did you know that?
I guess that could help him in SC. I have some friends down there who are serious about their guns.
That picture is truly disturbing.
Oh, shit: Hi, TSF! You did the hard work of posting and I forgot to say, “Hi!”
I was at a stoplight on Connecticut Avenue today and Novak crossed right in front of my car.
(Saw Hitchens in the same place last week.)
Everyone emerged safely from the encounter. If he is indeed a Dementor I was never close enough to be affected.
where’s that restless-leg syndrome when you need it?
Is there a hellmouth nearby?
Chicken.
Not even a one finger salute?
I am.
That must be it.
OT..big Agra and unintended consequences:
Reuters
I so admire your strength of character /s
Hi, Busted! Just commented at your place. I’ve got a new one up today, too; very, very short, and to the point.
Couldn’t you have “accidentally hit the gas when you meant to hit the brakes”?
I’m torn between admiring and condemning your restraint.
Hiya PhysioP.
Oh, and just to be clear, I am not in any way shape or form advocating violence. I meant “couldn’t” solely in the sense of “it’s a good thing you didn’t”.
Hey Jane!
OT but my “mentee”, my yKos1 tribute, Matt Ortega, is now living in DC, working for the DNC.
p.s. I first got to know Matt from his great War Profiteering posts at FDL.
Race wars. Yet another reason for me to be proud of being a D. Not.
Race wars. Yet another reason for me to be proud of being a D. Not.
Dems don’t do “wars”. It’s more like “flailing around”.
fixed your typo
8(
Well, I got a reply on my post, but no mention of all my buddies stopping by to say hello.
Maybe he hasn’t got that far yet.
kiddo and me want these things from the next president:
Stop attacking the people of Iraq.
No bombing of Iran.
Quality education for our children.
Free medical care for those who need it.
Concern for the planet’s health.
Good jobs for our people.
We want the truth.
And other things.
L.
Circular firing squad…
Right you are.
I got it. Thanks Teddy, and that’s one of the reasons I come to the lake. My boob toob aint with its weight in horse feathers.
FPUed from Biodun’s awesome post on the historical context of identity politcs downstairs:
“Biodun! That is awesome!”
Well, I thought being a Dementor was pretty much a requirement for the job of Press Secretary in this administration, no matter how cleverly disguised. And didn’t Darth Cheney set up a lab for converting Reporters to Dementors in one of his Undisclosed Locations, or was that only a rumor? And of course there was a Cluster of them over at DOJ, but many of them have left, to roost elsewhere. I wonder how Mukasey is doing there, babysitting for a bunch of Junior Dementors.
Where are the foremost Dementors now?
Bob in HI
He got a shout out from Digby too!
Ding!
Bob in HI
With Hillary & Obama & Chris Matthews talking about race & gender, this is good for the repukes, because as usual, “we’re” dividing ourselves without their help! Why do “we” make it so easy for them?
She is not single. She married the judge that presided over her divorce.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..01710.html
The positive out of all of this is the Democratic party has a woman and a black man in the presidential race, whereas, the repuke party has only white men running.
Schweet!
Way to go Biodun:
That is very disturbing.
In Austin, they will give you a new thermostat if you agree to let them control your thermostat. I haven’t done it, but they mostly want it here for peak times in late afternoon, early evening in the summer with all the A/C’s on full blast. The idea is conservation so we won’t need to bring another power plant online just for the peak times. It’s a totally voluntary program. They say they only cycle the A/C off for a few minutes just a few times during peak times.
Cheaper ethanol by 2011
I just saw the same thing for California, what, yesterday?
Yeah, Fuck you very much. keep yer fingers off of my heat and A/C.
I pay for it, fix yer damn infrastructure.
Thanks TSF. Nice post. Didn’t quite understand, but once social security
estate tax, Jeff Sessions (OMG) and Carlyle were dropped in the pot, came through loud and clear.
I like your thinking, Lahoma.
Which candidate is for total withdrawal from Iraq…no residual forces, and no forces sitting across the border in Kuwait to attack “Al Qaida” or get involved in a Civil War?
Which candidate has stated that attacking Iran is a no-go option? Which candidates have stated that “NO Options Are Off The Table”?
Which candidate will lift this tremendous financial WAR burden off our country, the major contributor to the deficits that make a improved health care, education, and places Social Security at risk.
Which candidate has spoken of using Federal Tax Dollars to creating affordable education (without perpetual debt) for the poor and middle class attending college? Which has been outspoken against “No Child Left Behind” strategy to shut down (rather than improve through resource allocation) low performing schools, requiring the kids to find others outside their neighborhoods, or attend private schools. Backdoor strategy for subsidies to religious schools…which may be the only option, even for those not of that denomination or unwilling to have their kids indoctrinated)?
Who is in favor of a fully nationalized health-care plan available to everyone rather than some mandates that REQUIRE people to find unbalanced, cheap and poor-quality Private Insurance.
Which candidates are pushing programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through conservation and tax-credits to energy-efficient and Green technology? Which support increasing taxes on heavy polluters and energy producers who don’t transfer to low-carbon technologies, or lock up technological patents to prevent innovation? Which has suggested that energy-saving patents should be restricted to terms of five years before becoming public…and one year if the technology is not manufactured?
Which candidate has actually supported investigations that would lead to the impeachment of Bush Administration Officials, including judges? Which has said that they would rescind Bush’s Executive Order shielding WH and Office of the Vice President from public scrutiny and criminal investigation? Who speaks for the Truth?
I’ve looked at the Democratic Candidates agendas, and while some go some distance to have plans that somewhat deal with your listed issues…all three of the major Democratic candidates are woefully wanting on some of them…particularly Iraq, Iran and other Middle East issues. If that wound is not stanched nothing is feasible elsewhere IMHO.
I agree with both of the statements this man made. It’s unfortunate that the world is this way, but it just is.
The only black candidate capable of attracting enough votes does need to be non-threatening to the majority white population. I believe Shelby Steele in his interview with Bill Moyers called this archetype a “bargainer” (as opposed to a “challenger”). And the truth is nobody does know how to campaign against him. There are minefields laid everywhere. Each camp is guilty of playing the “race card” and the media is eating it up and fueling the flames. Nobody is pure.
And please explain how a black man could run without the subject of race coming up. It’s the 800 pound gorilla in the room. And the other gorilla is the sexist crap that we all overlook.
Careful, kiddo, I learned how to drive in a 56 1/2 Rambler. Yellow.
Thus making it entirely obvious to the world that it is all about them and not about leading the country.